The Good Times Keep Rolling On: Consumer Sentiment Unexpectedly Holds Its Ground in May

John Minchillo/AP11 May 2018

Americans haven’t lost faith in the Trump economic boom.

The University of Michigan said Friday that its index of consumer sentiment registered at 98.8 in early May, unchanged from April. Economists had predicted it would drop down to 98.0, a very high level but lower than the 14-year high of 101.4 it hit in March.

Friday’s number is a preliminary figure for May. The final index reading will be released May 25.

The higher than expected consumer sentiment figure suggests that instead of continuing to decline, consumer sentiment has stabilized.

The University of Michigan’s Expectations Index gained 1.1 points while the Current Conditions Index fell 1.6 points, neither of which are considered statistically significant changes.

Optimism among American households, businesses, and investors has been running at multi-year highs since the election of Donald Trump in 2016. On Friday, CNN released a poll showing that optimism about the direction of the country under President Trump has hit an 11-year high of 57 percent

Republicans show much more optimism in surveys of consumer sentiment than Democrats. For Republicans, the sentiment index clocks in at a jaw-dropping 122.2. For Democrats, it is 81.5. Independents split the difference at 97.1.